Showcasing the lighted San Juanico Bridge

Definitely a must-see for guests visiting Tacloban City is the newly-lighted San Juanico Bridge whose aesthetic lights were recently switched on by no less than President Bong-bong Marcos last October 19, 2022.

Our special guest last night was Jojo Clemente of Rajah Tours, currently the president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines who is among the invited resource speakers of the 16th Leyte Business Conference of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tacloban-Leyte, Inc. He is among the speakers scheduled for today, November 15, 2022 at the Leyte Academic Center Gym in Palo, Leyte.

Another guest we had is true-blooded Taclobanon Peter Caludac, formerly with the Dept. of Trade & Industry 8, now based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

We were accompanied by Regional Director Karen Tiopes of the Dept. of Tourism 8, who, coincidentally, is also among the scheduled speakers in today’s afternoon session of the Business Conference.

There is a 15-minute dynamic lights & sound show which is scheduled every hour on the hour, 7PM to 10PM, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays. The rest of the week, only static lights are lit from 6PM-10PM.

Photos posted here show only the regular static lights.

The Light Show schedule…

Lunar eclipse of Nov 8, 2022

November 8, 2022 was one busy day for the family – so many things happening at home on that day – a surprise visit of relatives last seen eons ago, a simple birthday celebration of our Chief Cook at Calle Z Cafe, the 9th year commemoration of Super-Typhoon Yolanda’s devastating onslaught, and a Total Lunar Eclipse to boot!

Viewing the lunar eclipse that night hinged on having good weather early evening till about 9ish; AND having clear skies with no heavy cloud cover.

We had good weather but, unfortunately, intermittent cloud cover stole the show! And so my plan of coming up with a composite photo showing the various points of the earth’s shadow eclipsing the moon just wasn’t feasible. I had to be content with getting views – and shots – a few times…

Here’s what I got of the lunar eclipse of November 8, viewed from Calle Z Cafe, Tacloban City, Philippines:

6:24:56 PM:

6:36:08 PM:

7:00:08 PM

7:30:40 PM

8:00:54 PM

My set up at our home’s veranda…

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV + Canon EF 400mmL f/5.6 prime lens + Manfrotto tripod support

May they rest in Peace

Super-Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) was one of the most powerful and deadliest typhoons ever recorded killing at least 6,300 people in the Philippines, mostly from Eastern Visayas.

In commemoration of its 9th year anniversary and in remembrance of those who perished on that tragic day, November 08, 2013, we lit candles, offered flowers and prayed that their souls rest in peace.

November 08, 2022 at calle Z Cafe, Tacloban City, Philippines.

Super-Typhoon Yolanda 9th Year Commemoration

In commemoration of the 9th year anniversary when Super-Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) struck Central Visayas – from Guiuan Eastern Samar to Tacloban and with a wide wrath of destruction all the way to Western Visayas… I made a 2-part video-photo slideshow featuring videos & photos taken around our home at calle Z Cafe (Part 1) and scenes around Tacloban City (Part 2.)

Here’s Part 1:

Here’s Part 2 which may be viewed at YouTube…

Rediscovering an old blog… my blog!

Geeeeeeeez!!!

I rediscovered my old blog!!!

Anyway, I was on YouTube watching some vlogs when my mind did an instant flashback and I recalled the days when I was once actively blogging on wordpress, had my own domain site, and other supporting sites – the whole works. The thought then crossed mind: do wordpress blogs ever expire?

I did a quick google search and the answer was – voila! They never expire!

That made me jump from my seat to my desktop computer and after sorting out the confusion whether it was a wordpress.com or a wordpress.org account (I actually had both!) I tried to log in to my old account. Suffice it to say, it was not a quick exercise… I had to dig up old codes, old files, old passwords until I finally managed to get into my old account, after like 30 minutes or so!

And so lo and behold! All my posts are still there from the time I first published my first post on 25 September 2007… until my last post about Fruit Bats posted on 31 August 2012 > https://gerryruiz.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/fruit-bats/

Now this opens up an entirely new challenge for me: what do I do about this old “photoblog”? What can I do about it – do I just let it go and have it die on wordpress’ life? Or do I revive it and try to make something – whatever – from it?

The photoblog as it is covers the period Sept 2007 to August 2012 – 387 posts all in all (this post is the 388th!) … and thousands of images… all in 5 years!

I would very much welcome any help from my readers so please type in your suggestions and tips in the comments below.

Thank you so much in advance and cheers to all!

Fruit Bats!

Fruit bats just love our chico tree.

Here are photos taken 24 August 2012 of one savoring a chico fruit at our yard.

Saigon After 6

Here are a couple of night scenes taken around Ho Chi Minh City…

Mekong Delta, Vietnam

Here are a few photos taken during a brief trip to My Tho City, Tien Gang Province and island hopping around Mekong River, Mekong Delta.